Are octaves en vogue at the moment? Duncan Taylor have added new expressions to their Octave Collection, AD Rattray have started their Octave Project, and now Glenglassaugh have released the second batch of their Octave range. Unfamiliar with octaves? They’re essentially tiny little 65-ish litre casks, which allow for rapid maturation due to the increased [...]...

Since Glendronach 15yo Revival was withdrawn from the market in 2015, it’s been a rather long three years, hasn’t it? Unless you were willing to part with a rather silly sum of money at auction for a bottle (ca. £140-170 before commission), you either had to settle for the 12yo, or trade yourself up to [...]...

Just yesterday we were celebrating the return of Glendronach 15yo Revival, and now here we are celebrating the return of another expression to a core line up, this time from Glendronach’s sister distillery, Benriach. Benriach 12yo Sherry Wood has been produce using three styles of sherry cask maturation; full sherry cask maturation, combined with Pedro [...]...

What were you doing on oktober 17th 1990? The Berlin Wall had not long come down, Nelson Mandela had been out of prison a matter of months, the Gulf War was just kicking off and the first website wasn’t quite yet live on some fledgling concept called the “world wide web”. Not sure whatever became [...]...

I tell you what, Rachel Barrie doesn’t sit around twiddling her thumbs, does she? Having reintroduced Benriach 12yo Sherry Wood and Glendronach 15yo Revival back into their respective core ranges, Glendronach’s Master Blender has now spearheaded Glendronach’s first foray into the Global Travel Retail market. Glendronach Forgue 10yo, so named after the valley in the [...]...

I don’t think anyone could quite believe it when Old Pulteney discontinued their highly acclaimed, award winning 21 year old expression. I actually know someone who audibly gasped at the news, became wide-eyed with incredulity, and then had to sit down for a few moments to collect themselves *cough, cough* The Drinks Lady *cough, cough* [...]...

A world first on Edinburgh Whisky Blog today! Well, not really. But kind of. Steel Bonnets is a blended malt with a difference – it’s the first blended malt to be composed of both Scottish and English Maltwhisky (the English component unsurprisingly comes from the Lakes Distillery). There’s a lot of story and marketing [...]...

A couple of weeks ago a #HighlandPark tasting took place on the Twittersphere, where a bunch of bloggers/journos/media types tasted their way through Highland Park’s new global travel retail range; an NAS whisky called Spirit of the Bear, a 14yo called Loyalty of the Wolf, and a 16yo called Wings of the Eagle. I was [...]...

A couple of weeks ago I was invited along to an event at my old stomping ground, Usquabae Whisky Bar, to sample a whisky from a distillery which isn’t built yet. Confused? Let me explain. The original Ardgowan Distillery was established in 1896 during the late Victorian whisky boom, and was located on Baker Street [...]...

The systematic re-vamp of Whyte & Mackay’s single malt portfolio ticked another distillery off the list last month, following hot on the heels of the recent re-launches of Tamnavulin and Jura. One could argue that Dalmore grabs all the attention, marketing budget and general fanfare when Whyte & Mackay talk about single Maltwhisky, which [...]...

As an Edinburgh resident, it takes a lot to entice me to walk up the Royal Mile during augusti. If you’ve ever been here during the festival, or worse still, worked during it, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Thousands of tourists daundering along at a mind-numbingly slow pace, flyers being thrust at you from [...]...

You see them all the time on Instagram, these ‘before’ and ‘after’ pics with the obligatory #MondayMotivation or #TransformationTuesday hashtag. You’ll know the ones I mean – they’re usually to do with people shedding loads of weight since januari 1st, or gaining a chiselled six pack after an intense four week fitness program. In a [...]...

If you attended Whisky Fringe recently, you’ll no doubt have come across a relatively new player to the whisky game. James Eadie released their eponymous Trade Mark ‘X’ blend a few months ago and have also recently ventured into bottling small batch and single cask whiskies. The brand was established decades ago, with the original [...]...

Something a bit different today – a Tomatin distilled in 1970 and bottled by Gordon & MacPhail as part of their Connoisseurs Choice range sometime in the mid-1980s (judging by the brown and cream label design). I visited Tomatin distillery with The Drinks Lady last year and found it a really informative experience. For example, [...]...

As I’m sure you were all aware, Sunday was National Oyster Day. Much rejoicing was had in celebration of that little salty, squidgy, slimy thing found in the sea. What a day. In all seriousness, I was looking forward to Sunday afternoon more than most Sunday afternoons, because this was the day when Douglas Laing’s [...]...

Time really does pass quicker the older you get. I know that statement completely ignores all the laws of space, time, and well, general common sense, but I cannot believe it’s been five years since a few of us at the blog went on a massive piss up blog networking evening with the fine folks [...]...

Following on from the furore regarding the extraordinary price hike of Aberlour a’bunadh, it seems only fitting, and quite timely, that I review a brand new whisky from one of a’bunadh’s closest competitors. Glendronach Cask Strength Batch 7 consists of whisky matured in Pedro Ximinex and Oloroso sherry casks which is then married together before [...]...

It didn’t take long, did it? Almost immediately after Billy Walker sold Benriach, Glendronach and Glenglassaugh to Brown-Forman, bets were being placed on how soon he would return to the Scotch whisky fold. The answer: very soon. It’s now almost exactly a year since Walker reached an agreement with Chivas Bros to take the helm [...]...

A bit of (old) news for you all; Eden Mill released their first official whisky a couple of months ago to much trumpeting and fanfare. The first ten bottles were auctioned through Whisky Auctioneer and bottle number one sold for a staggering £7,100. Seven grand for a three year old whisky. What the fuck is [...]...

Imagine crossing the Freemasons with The Scotch Maltwhisky Society. Secret handshakes, passwords and symbols, single cask whisky and a new world order. Well, majbe not that last bit, but there’s certainly some single cask whisky involved and you’ll need to create a password when signing up on the Whisky Illuminati’s website. It’s a bit [...]...